While I’m visiting my family in Japan, I have asked several blogger friends to blog-sit for me and today’s sitter is Charles from Five Euro Food.
It’s been a truly wonderful experience for me to learn new dishes and recipes from Charles. Originally from the UK but now living in France, Charles exposed and introduced many European dishes to me that I never knew about. It’s very exciting for me to follow his blog because I have never been to Europe and it’s always been a dream of mine. He is a nice supportive gentleman who answers each everyone’s questions with sincere care. His blog is like a cozy private cooking lesson and he creates a very warm atmosphere on his blog.
Charles not only makes very budget-friendly recipes that all of us can appreciate, but his recipes are very easy to follow with step-by-step pictures and clear instructions. Check out his Swedish Waffles and Gluten-Free Crisp Bread for example. He pays close detail attentions to his creations which is why his recipes are all very clear and well written. If you are a visual learner, you will love his video recipes with a cool British accent.
Now please welcome Charles with this easy and delicious French-inspired dessert.
*****
I’m a 29-year-old English guy, living and working in France for the past 7 years. I’ve always loved being in the kitchen – ever since making my first macaroni cheese for my family when I was about 7. I’m very honored to be here guest-posting for Nami today while she’s taking a well-needed vacation – I’ve been reading her site for many months now and really love the food she makes – such beautiful food and photography is always a pleasure to see. When she asked if I wanted to guest post for her I was very touched, but I just hope my dish can be as interesting, and appetizing as the wonderful things Nami normally posts herself.
I notice that it’s not so often that she posts desserts, and as I am English, I live in France, and my wife is Swedish, I had three different countries to draw inspiration from. I finally settled on something which I feel is wonderful in that it’s fast and easy to prepare, can be customized in any one of a hundred different ways and looks very impressive, plus everything sounds more fancy in French, right?!
The dish is also cheap to prepare, which fits in nicely in the theme of my site, FiveEuroFood.com. I knew I wanted to start blogging about my kitchen adventures – I also knew I wanted to have a creative outlet and a way of slowly improving my food photography. I figured making dishes to serve two or more people, for less than the cost of one burger meal in a fast-food joint was a worthy goal and so my site started from there.
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Flambéed Pear Purses with Caramel Sauce and Ganâche
Ingredients
For the “Purses”:
- 2 pears (ripe)
- 3 sheets filo pastry
- 20 g sugar
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 30 g unsalted butter (for brushing)
- 3 Tbsp brandy
For the Caramel Sauce:
- 180 g sugar
- 100 ml heavy (whipping) cream
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
For the ganâche:
- 50 g dark Chocolate
- 50 ml heavy (whipping) cream
Instructions
- Start by peeling, coring and finely chopping the pears.
- Next, melt the 20g of butter in a large frying pan and add in the chopped pears and 20g of Caster Sugar. Cook through for a couple of minutes until the pear juice starts to form a nice syrup with the sugar. At this point, pour in the brandy and allow to sizzle vigorously for a couple of seconds before setting it alight with a lighter or match. Allow to burn out, shaking the pan every few seconds.
- Melt the remaining 30g of butter for the purses either in a pan or placing in the microwave on high power for a few seconds. Cut the filo pastry sheets in half width-ways, so you get 6 pieces. Layer them on top of each other, brushing the top of each bottom sheet with butter before placing a new sheet on top. Once all three sheets are in place, brush the top again with butter.
- Preheat your oven to 220ºC (425ºF) and meanwhile place half of the cooked pear mixture into the centre of the pastry sheets. Bring the corners together and press gently at the top to form a small pouch or bag shape. Brush liberally again with butter and place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat the process again for the second purse and then place into the preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until a rich golden brown.
- While the purses are baking place the sugar for the caramel sauce into a pan and melt over a medium heat, stirring all the time. When the sugar has completely melted down to a rich, brown sauce add in the cream. At this point the sauce will froth up a lot so watch out and stir well. When the bubbling has subsided add in the butter and stir until melted. Set aside and allow to cool.
- Next, melt the chocolate in another pan over medium heat, stirring all the time until completely melted. When ready, pour in the cream and stir well to blend. Place the purses onto serving dishes and serve the sauces with them. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar if desired.
Hello Nami 🙂 hope you’re having an amazing time in Japan ~ Thanks for introducing us to Charles ~ it’s lovely to see a male blogger because I’ve realised most food bloggers are females!
Yay! A sweet dessert recipe 😀 These pear purses looks so delicious ~ Can’t wait to get my hands on some pears and make them!
Hi Daisy – it’s true… sometimes I feel all alone in the sea of women in the blogosphere, lol 😀 But we’re out there, in isolated pockets of cyberspace, planning and plotting to take over the internet, one dessert at a time!
That is one lovely dessert! Looks so yummy!
it’s so seductive! 🙂 how can you be so good in desserts
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I love that those pears are served with a choice of chocolate or caramel! I could enjoy a bite of one alternating with the other until I ended up licking the plate :-). Fabulous!!!
wow! what a beautiful and exquisite dish!
If I tried making even a fraction of the recipes I would love to on the 16 blogs I subscribe to, I’d be cooking day and night. But someday … it’s always a possibility.
Haha, I *so* know what you mean 😀 – My mind is awash with wonderful ideas from peoples’ blogs… usually, the best I can do is suddenly, mid-cooking, I’ll suddenly remember that the thing I’m about to make was made in a different way on someone’s blog, so I’ll try and reproduce that as best as I can remember from memory
Hi Charles! Nice to meet you, mate.
Really appreciating the concept of your blog (and this lush recipe, of course), it is not like I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. 😉
Cheers,
Tobias
Hi Tobias – thanks for your nice comment – oh to be born with a silver spoon in my mouth (lol) 😀 – Then I could have a blog called Five Thousand Euro Food and make truffle omelettes with gold flakes 😀
What an elegant dessert. It’s just the perfect recipe to impress my guests without letting them know it was quite easy to put together! Thank you!
Nice to “meet” you Charles and thanks for sharing this lovely dessert with us. Flambeed pears in a filo pocket eaten with chocolate and caramel sauce sounds wonderful!
Hi Biren – It took me a moment because I seemed to recognise your name from somewhere, and then I realise the previous guest post was by you! Nice to meet you too 🙂 Thanks for your kind comment!
It is nice meeting you, Charles. Thank you for sharing your your delicious dessert. Thank you, Nami for introducing Charles to us and I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family in Japan.
Thanks Ray – It’s nice to be here – everyone’s so nice 🙂
That looks really delicious and luxurious. Guest-postings are always nice. You get introduced to new talented bloggers and blogs this way. Nice to meet you Charles! 🙂
I hope you have a great vacation, Nami!
Wow! Charles, this dessert has my twin sister’s name all over it. She loves pear tart, and I think this is a fun and elegant twist on that. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much Shirley. I have another pear tart recipe I make sometimes with crushed walnuts in the shortcrust pastry top – you should try that, it’s delicious – walnuts and pears… yum!
heh like I said on twitter, oooh chef-y! definitely looks restaurant-quality! I love pears in dessert!
Thanks Shu Han – considering the easiness to put it all together it does end up visually quite impressive 🙂
What a fantastic dessert. Love the pear purses!
Hi Nami, I hope you are enjoying your holiday:)
Hi Charles, Nice to meet you. Your pear purses look to die for. Great recipe.
Thanks Nancy – nice to meet you too! Hope you have a chance to try this 🙂